Survived
by bmo-galaxy
Summary: Ed and Al never talked about how Ed nearly died after being impaled by the steel beam in the mine shaft and how Al had felt his soul try to be pulled back into his body. This is my take on Ed explaining that he'd nearly died and how they'd never really considered that if Ed died, Al died too. In the truest sense of the words.


It was a hot fall day, unusually hot for this late in the season. Sweat poured down his back, sticky and irritating. It was an unusual feeling for him; he'd provided heat for his and Al's body for so long that even during exercise he rarely sweat. Now, his long sleeved shirt clung to his skin, chaffing under his arms and against the sensitive tissue of his scar. He grunted against a heavy blow Al landed against his side. Sliding away from him, he huffed heavily to ease the burn in his lungs. Raising his hands next to his head, he looked away during his surrender.

Al slowed his charge at his brother, confused by his admission of defeat. In all the times they'd been fighting, Ed had never stopped a fight. Even when Al was about to land the finishing blow and he was bleeding from the head. Al was always the one to pull first.

The blonde boy approached his elder brother, looking concerned.

"Brother, are you alright?"

By now, Ed had peeled his damp shirt from his skin. His hands were folded on top of his head, an attempt to open his chest to get air into his lungs. His eyes were closed, pinched shut in pain.

"This is going to sound stupid, but I was providing heat for both of us for so long that I forgot how hot my body could get." Ed huffed out a laugh. "It feels like my body is going into shock!"

Al grimaced at his brother, slightly annoyed Ed's inability to take his own health seriously. "Are you going to be okay? Should I get granny or Winry?"

"No, don't go bothering them. They'll just hover and worry the rest of the night." The last thing he needed was Winry nagging him all night.

Al rolled his eyes at that, but had to admit that he'd think the same way in Ed's place. He shrugged away his defeat and took a moment to study his brother. His skin was tinted red with heat and irritation from his shirt, hiding some of the freckles he'd accrued during the summer. He'd built up the muscles in his right arm well, they almost matched the muscle tone he carried in his left. He'd sustained his limbs on the other side well, since they were better connected to his soul in the physical world, but the arm hadn't stayed nearly as strong.

His scar from previous automail had faded some, but it now glowed red from the heat coursing through him. The redness extended down his chest and faded some in his stomach. Except... Al stepped closer to get a better look at the bright red patch on Edward's left side.

"Brother, what is that?"

Ed turned to look at him, his eyes conveying confusion. "What are you talking about, Al?"

Al was standing next to him now, his eyes transfixed on the large, bright red scar tissue on Edward's side. He desperately wracked his brain, trying to remember when his brother had been injured so seriously. His thoughts strayed briefly to how much pain Ed would have been in, how long it had to have taken to heal.

Ed stared at Al like he'd grown a second head, wondering what his brother was talking about. He followed Al's line of sight, staring down at his side. He grimaced now, not understanding what had upset his brother.

"Where did that scar come from?" Al's voice was barely a whisper.

Ed looked surprised for a moment before his face set into understanding. He had forgotten they'd spent so much time apart after they'd left the North, Al had never really heard about what had happened in the time they'd been separated.

"Kimblee tried to blow me up." He put up a strong, cocky air to try to lighten the mood, hoping that Al wouldn't dig any deeper. Ed didn't want to tell him that he'd almost died, almost failed them.

Al stared at him, Ed could almost hear the gears turning in his head. Scenarios and images flashed through his head. Parts and pieces of buildings big enough to do that, to pierce his body with such a large hole.

"How?"

Ed grimaced. He considered telling Al to mind his own business and drop it, but he let go of the idea immediately. They'd worked so hard together and been through enough for a thousand lifetimes, Al had seen him at his best and his worst. They'd finally made it and fixed their mistakes. Ed didn't need to push him away now.

"It was in the North. Miles was going to take out Kimblee, but wanted to take out Darius and Heinkel as well. Kimblee knew we were coming though and he escaped into a mineshaft. I followed after them, actually had to fight Heinkel and Darius to get to him. I got to Kimblee, obviously tried to confront him, but he was using a stone. Right when I thought I'd gotten him, he pulled another stone out of his mouth! His mouth! Can you believe that?" Ed shook his head indignantly and grunted.

"Anyway, he blew up the mine shaft and I fell through the ground. I thought I was okay when I initially came to, but..." Ed's voice trailed away as he remember the bright red of his blood on the ground and the searing pain burning through his side when he realized he'd been impaled. He clenched his trembling hands into fists, resisting the urge to touch his side, to make sure he was still alive.

"Edward?"

Al's voice helped snap him out of the memory. He let out a trembling breath and swallowed before continuing.

"I'd been impaled by a steel bar. I cut some of it down but couldn't pull it on my own. I thought I was going to die. Then Heinkel and Darius showed up. They helped me pull the bar out and got me to a doctor."

Al thought about a bar piercing through Edward's body. The trauma and the blood loss. "How did you survive? Did you use a the stone Kimblee dropped?" Al knew he wouldn't have blamed his brother, wouldn't have faulted him for staying alive.

Ed gave him a sharp look, his mouth pinched in a frown. "Of course not, you idiot! I sacrificed a few years of my life to heal the cells, it's something Hohen-" Edward paused and looked down at the ground. "It's something Father told me about."

Al squeezed his hands into fists, his gut churning uncomfortably. He knew what Ed was talking about, their father had alluded to this ability with Al as well.

Trying to taken his mind off the years Ed had lost, he thought about the timeline of events. If he wasn't with them, but Ed was still with Miles, that meant he'd been with Scar, May, and Marcoh. He immediately remembered the pull of his soul being ripped from the armor and the confusion of waking up and not knowing where he'd been. It made sense now, Ed's soul was intertwined with his, so that Ed could sustain Al's body while his had been beyond the portal. If Ed's soul lost it's connection in the living world, Al would lose his as well. His body would immediately call his soul back so that he could pass on. A fresh wave of pain and anxiety swept through the boy's body.

That means Ed had almost died. They'd been in trouble before, see tight spots and close calls, but that he'd only really experienced that strong a pull once. It was hard to think about Ed like that, bloody and dying.

Ed watched his brother closely, studying the way Al digested the information. Guilt rolled heavily in his stomach and he briefly wondered if he should have just told Al to let it go.

"I remember feeling my soul being pulled back into my body. I collapsed in the snow and Marcoh had to take me apart so Scar and May could carry me to shelter."

Ed's eyes widened, anxiety and dread sweeping through his quickly. His knuckles turned white under the strain of his fists. He stared down at his right arm, watching the muscles flex and strain.

"I never considered that if I died, you'd die too. It makes sense, since I was providing the heat, sleep, and food for both of us. And our souls were tangled together for that to be possible. I guess I just never wanted to consider..." He shook his head angrily, grunting under his breath and cursing lowly. "I can't believe I was so stupid." His thoughts turned to a time when he would have let Scar kill him if it meant Al could. What an idiot he had been.

Al's first instinct was to chastise his brother for blaming himself, but there was a tired, worn look of resignation on his face. So much deeper, more ingrained than he'd ever seen him before. There was nothing Al could say to convince Ed that it hadn't been his fault.

Opting to lighten the mood instead of start an argument, Al grinned and gave an exaggerated roll of his shoulders.

"It doesn't really matter now anyway, I have my body back and you have yours. We did it, brother." Al stared down at his hands in wonder, clenching them into excited fists and smiling brightly. "Just like we promised, Ed. We did it."

Ed couldn't help but smile at his younger brother. The boy's enthusiasm had always been contagious, ever since they were kids. Al couldn't stand negativity, which balanced well with Ed's constant state of pessimism. They made a good team. They would always make a good team. He allowed his feelings of self hatred to melt away and let himself have a short laugh.

"You're right, bro. We really did it." Ed held out his fists, a triumphant smile on his face. Al excitedly raised his fist in return, bumping it against Ed's gently.

"Now, we should probably get back. I need to study some of the alkahesty materials that May sent me, I'm going to see her in a few months and want to be as well read as I can be."

Al nodded in understanding. He'd been overjoyed for his brother when they found out Ed could use alkahestry. May had been the one to suggest that he try, when he'd been visiting Al and her in Xing for the winter. She mentioned that alkahestrists called on a different power to perform their transmutations. Ed had been more than willing to try and had spent the rest of his visit studying alkahestry and learning the meditations that they performed to call on the chi of people around him and sense the pulse of the dragon beneath his feet. It had taken time, he'd constantly sought the power built between the tectonic plates so it was hard to look for any other whisper of power. He'd asked May to describe what the pulse felt like to her. She'd talked about the feeling of wind against a dragon's skin when he takes to the sky, the burn of the fire kindling in their bellies, the slice of claws, and rumbling growls. She'd asked Ed in return what alchemists felt.

Ed told her about the trembling of an earthquake shaking the ground, the sear of a volcano spewing lava that hisses when it cools against the sea; it was the microscopic growth of mountains and the crushing sensation of caves falling in. The next day, Ed felt for the wind on his skin and the fie beneath his calms. He transmuted a small figurine of Winry out of rock a few feet away. He blushed and stuttered that there was no way in hell that he missed her.

He'd decided to start studying to be a doctor, remembering the smiling faces of the elderly Ishvalan when she spoke of Winry's parents. He wanted to help people, like he'd been always helping people, and now he could do it would violence and fighting. He wanted to stay true to aklahestry's roots and history. Winry cried when he told her.

They started the short walk back to the Rockbell home, chatting happily about what Winry made for dinner and how excited Ed was to leave in a few days to stay in Central until he went to Xing.

"Is Winry staying here while you're gone?" Al inquired. He'd like to spend a few more weeks at home before he continued his own travels. He planned to go and visit the Ishvalan territory and read some old texts there before also heading to Xing. May was starting to sound angry in her letters that Al hadn't come to visit in a while.

"Nah, she's going to Rush Valley for a while to see Paninya and Garfiel."

Al nodded in understanding. "That makes sense, she always loves a reason to travel to the valley."

"Like we're ones to talk!" Ed exclaimed and the pair fell into a fit of laughter as they climbed the steps of the house. Winry turned when they walked through the door, smiling at them from the kitchen.

"You boys sure look like you got a good workout," she commented as she resumed dicing potatoes for dinner. Ed kissed her cheek in greeting and grinned.

"Sure did! Even now, nearly the same size and I still can't beat him."

Winry huffed in annoyance. "Honestly, you two work so hard to get your original bodies back and all you do is rough them up."

Ed chuckled at her and shook his head. "You only live once, so you have to do it all out the first time!"

"Right!" Al agreed. "You have to give it your all!"

Winry laughed as the two brother's gently punched and threw half-hearted kicks at one another. She absorbed the warm feeling of laughing with them again, of not having the underlying worry for them tinging all her thoughts. They'd survived, gotten their bodies back and all. They'd made sacrifices and faced loss, but in the end, all that matter was that they had done it. They'd survived.


End file.
